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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28418742">To Keep You Here With Me Always</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theyna_Shipper/pseuds/Theyna_Shipper'>Theyna_Shipper</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Star Wars One-Shots [38]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Ben is 21, F/M, Family, Feels, Fluff, Fluff without Plot, Force Bond, Further inpsection suggests that there is in fact no plot, Gen, I'm not sure anything actually happens in the entire fic, It's just fluff and feels, Jedi Ben Solo, Pre-Canon, Rey is 18, Twitter: reylo_prompts, inspired by a tweet, mostly just fluff, reylo prompts</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:27:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,738</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28418742</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theyna_Shipper/pseuds/Theyna_Shipper</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p><i>You could go to Snoke,</i> a tiny, treacherous voice in his head says. But no, he will not give in to that– Luke may have tried to kill him, but he will not let that push him to the Dark side. </p>
<p>And then, he realizes with a striking clarity, he can go to Chewie. <i>He can go to Chewie.</i> He doesn’t know what exactly his ‘uncle’ will think, or be able to do, but he knows that if he goes to him, he will be safe.</p>
<p>So the next thing he knows, he is taking off in an x-wing and heading towards Shyriiwook, not knowing how he will explain himself, but knowing he needs to run. </p>
<p>Ben doesn’t actually know what Chewie’s life is like now. He knows he went back to Shyriiwook, and heard something about taking in a mechanic girl?</p>
<p>All he knows is that now he’s pounding on the door, covered in ash and blood an sweat, and when his uncle opens door Ben falls to his knees panting, “I screwed up, I screwed up, <i>I screwed up I screwed up…”</i></p>
<hr/>
<p>After the burning of the Jedi temple, Ben goes to his Uncle Chewie.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Chewbacca &amp; Ben Solo, Chewbacca &amp; Rey, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Star Wars One-Shots [38]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1637683</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>111</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>To Keep You Here With Me Always</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Inspired by the @reylo_prompts : There are a lot of modern AU fics where Rey's foster parents are Maz or Unkar Plutt, but could we get one where Chewie is her foster father? https://twitter.com/reylo_prompts/status/1332051504627376131</p>
<p>So, this one kinda acquired a life of its own, but mostly just fluff and not a lot of plot. Hope you enjoy!</p>
<p>Title - "Blood" by Hozier</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ben stares at the burning ruins of the temple, not knowing who there is alive and who is dead. </p>
<p>He has to run, he knows. He has no idea where he can run, but he knows he needs to. </p>
<p>He can’t go to his parents. He could have killed Luke, for all he knows. He could go to Lando, but he would tell his father. </p>
<p><i>You could go to Snoke,</i> a tiny, treacherous voice in his head says. But no, he will not give in to that– Luke may have tried to kill him, but he will not let that push him to the Dark side. </p>
<p>And then, he realizes with a striking clarity, he can go to Chewie. <i>He can go to Chewie.</i> He doesn’t know what exactly his ‘uncle’ will think, or be able to do, but he knows that if he goes to him, he will be safe.</p>
<p>So the next thing he knows, he is taking off in an x-wing and heading towards Shyriiwook, not knowing how he will explain himself, but knowing he needs to run. </p>
<p>Ben doesn’t actually know what Chewie’s life is like now. He knows he went back to Shyriiwook, and heard something about taking in a mechanic girl?</p>
<p>All he knows is that now he’s pounding on the door, covered in ash and blood an sweat, and when his uncle opens door Ben falls to his knees panting, “I screwed up, I screwed up, <i>I screwed up I screwed up…”</i> </p>
<p>And Chewie just pulls him up, and brings him inside, and growls, <i>Let’s talk about it, kid.</i> </p>
<p>Within half an hour he has explained everything that happened, andis beyond relieved to hear that Chewie received a comm from his parents saying that everyone at the school was alive, though some were injured. </p>
<p>“Please don’t tell them I’m here,” he whispers, burying his head in his hands. </p>
<p><i>You can’t hide forever,</i> Chewie growls. But in response to Ben’s pleading eyes, he adds, <i>but you can stay here until you know what to do.</i></p>
<p>“Thank you,” he whispers. </p>
<p>Just as a silence settles between them, a girl walks into the room, saying something to Chewie, before seeing Ben and freezing in her tracks </p>
<p><i>Rey, this is–</i> But before he can be introduced, she turns ashen white and sprints awa. </p>
<p><i>Rey!</i> </p>
<p>Ben watches the girl’s back long after she is gone. “Who is that?”</p>
<p>
  <i>Your father and I found her on Jakku, scavenging. She was alone, I offered to take her back with me to help with the ship and around the house. I’m not so young anymore.</i>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“And why did she–” he gestures vaguely. </p>
<p>Chewie shrugs. <i>She’s not used to seeing other humans here. Perhaps she was just surprised.</i></p>
<p>There had been more than surprise on her face. Her fear was so strong he could feel it from where he sat. But he didn’t recognize her from anywhere… did he?</p>
<p><i>You can stay in the spare room, and I have some of your father’s old clothes.</i> Chewie studies Ben, so much taller than when he was last there. <i>Yours probably will not fit anymore.</i></p>
<p>Ben awkwardly makes his exit, showers off the sweat and grime, and changes into some of his father’s old clothes. Chewie’s right, they do fit, they’re even a little small. It’s been so long since he’s seen his father… would he be able to look him in the eye now?</p>
<p>Drying his hair, he steps into the guest room, and sits down on the bare mattress. His head is spinning with everything that has happened, and how it’s been– Lord, it’s been a whole day and he hasn’t eaten or slept since. It’s only felt like a few minutes. He can still smell the smoke rising off the temple ruins. </p>
<p><i>At least no one was killed,</i> he thinks. It’s only so much of a comfort. Sooner or later he will have to face his family again… face Master Luke– and he’s not sure he can do it. Luke tried to <i>kill</i> him, as far as he can tell, and he can’t see himself getting over that soon. </p>
<p>He may sit there for a moment or for hours; the next time he is aware of himself someone is knocking on the door telling him to come out and eat. </p>
<p>Rey is standing in the kitchen now, stirring something over the stove. “Hey,” she mumbles as he walks in. </p>
<p>“Hi,” he says awkwardly. “I, um– I’m sorry about earlier. If I… scared you or anything. I do that a lot.” He shrugs. </p>
<p>“It’s okay,” she replies, tipping some kind of meat and sauce onto three plates of rice. “I was just… surprised is all.” </p>
<p>The lie is clearer than her unexpected core accent, but he doesn’t press her. </p>
<p>“Do you think you could, um, put these out?” She hands him forks and knives. “Chewie is just checking out the speeder, he’ll be in, just a minute.”</p>
<p>Ben takes the table settings, and lays them out on the tall table. “I’m Ben, by the way.”</p>
<p>“Rey.” She sets the plates down and knocks on the window to let Chewie know that everything is ready. </p>
<p>“So, you’ve been with Chewie–”</p>
<p>“Three years,” she says immediately. “He took me off Jakku when I was fifteen. He’s been really– the closest thing I’ve ever had– closest to a family.” She smiles. “He talks a lot about you and your family.” </p>
<p>She’s barely taken her eyes off his face, like she is trying to find something in it. He looks sharply away. “I haven’t actually seen most of them in… well, in a while. I’m kind of… hiding here.” </p>
<p>“Oh.”</p>
<p>They’re spared further conversation when Chewie comes in for dinner. Chewie and Rey talk about repairs and things around the Wookie village, and while he tries to loop Ben into the conversation, Ben’s not really in a talking mood. </p>
<p>He takes it upon himself to do the dishes (they have given him far more hospitality than he deserves already) before going back to his room to put on pajamas. </p>
<p>“Knock knock?” Rey says, peeking in the door that is in fact just a blanket. </p>
<p>“Come in.”</p>
<p>She holds out a stack of blankets for his bare mattress. She is still staring at his face. </p>
<p>“Do I remind you of someone?” he asks finally. </p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“You keep staring at me, like you recognize me, but I know we’ve never met. I would have remembered someone like you.”</p>
<p>“What’s that supposed to mean?” she snaps. </p>
<p><i>Oh.</i> He hadn’t fully realized he’d said that out loud. Her personality is so strong, he can practically feel the emotions rolling off her at every moment. “You’re just… you’re really… you have a strong personality. In a good way.”</p>
<p>“Hm.” She still sounds suspicious. “No, I don’t think we’ve met.” She drums her fingers against her thighs. “I… I used to dream about you.” </p>
<p>“You <i>what?</i>”</p>
<p>“I don’t know! When I was a kid, I used to have this dream, where there was a boy… and he always looked like he was hurt or alone, but I couldn’t help him, couldn’t touch him. I knew I hadn’t met him, I… I would have remembered.” She looks at him even more intensely, if that’s even possible. “It was you.”</p>
<p>“I remember you,” he realizes suddenly. “I used to dream about you too.” How could he have forgotten? “It was– it was five years ago. You offered me your hand. I tried to take it but then you… you disappeared. I never saw you again.”</p>
<p>Rey’s face is ashy white. “I remember that too.” Her voice is barely above a whisper. “I thought, I had never seen anyone look so alone in their life. I wanted to help you, but as soon as I touched you…” She shakes her head. He can feel her distress in the Force– and he can feel her Force, too, strong and clear as a bell, and he realizes that’s what he’s been feeling this whole time. </p>
<p>“Goodnight, Ben.” She shoves the blankets at him and walks back to her room double time.</p><hr/>
<p>“Rey has the Force.”</p>
<p><i>I know.</i> </p>
<p>“You did?”</p>
<p>
  <i>I’ve been dealing with you Jedi since the Clone Wars, kid. I know the Force when I see it.</i>
</p>
<p>“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” </p>
<p><i>You were never happy after you went to Luke’s. I didn’t want the same to happen to her.</i> </p>
<p>“Oh.”</p>
<p>
  <i>Do you think I should have?</i>
</p>
<p>“No.” If he had, she would hate Ben now, and as terrified as she still may be, he doesn’t think he could stand it if she hated him. “No, I don’t.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <i>Good. Get me that wrench.</i>
</p><hr/>
<p>Rey spends several days carefully avoiding him, but walks into his room one night as he’s getting ready for bed. </p>
<p>“Ben? You’re a Jedi, right?” </p>
<p>“In perhaps the loosest sense of the word.” </p>
<p>She drums her fingers against her thighs, fidgeting the same way as before. “Chewie told me I had the Force, a while ago. He said I could choose whether or not I wanted to… do anything about it.”</p>
<p>“And you chose not to.” </p>
<p>“I chose to wait.” She shakes her head. “I think I waited too long. Now I don’t know what to do. Since you came here I’ve just been feeling all these… all these <i>things</i>, and I know it must be Force, but I can’t… I don’t…”</p>
<p>“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” He attempts to calm her down, sitting her down on his bed. Her Force signature is unusually strong to him, to, stronger than he ever felt even Master Luke’s. Perhaps they are connected, somehow. “Maybe I can help you.”</p>
<p>“You can?” </p>
<p><i>No,</i> he thinks. But he <i>wants</i> to help Rey. </p>
<p>“Clothes your eyes. Just breathe, keep yourself calm.”</p>
<p>After a few breaths, Rey’s heartbeat slows, and Ben continues: </p>
<p>“Do you feel the Force?” She nods. “What do you see?”</p>
<p>“An island.”</p>
<p>Ben nods. Many people visualize the Force in different ways, an island is reasonable. </p>
<p>“Light. Dark,” she continues with more confidence, leaning towards him. </p>
<p>“Be careful–” </p>
<p><i>“You.”</i> Her whisper is nigh-reverant as she places her hands blindly on his temples. “You’re afraid,” she realizes softly. </p>
<p>“Rey, I think we should–”</p>
<p>“You’re afraid that you’ll be like… like Darth Vader.” </p>
<p>As he feels her teasing at the fringes of his mind, he rejects her so strongly that she actually jumps back. </p>
<p>“I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have… I lose control.” She squeezes her hands together in her lap. “Did you see any of… me?”</p>
<p>“Yes,” he admits. He saw her. He saw her loneliness. He saw a brutal planet that stole her youth away. He saw abandonment and fear and loss. And he saw a brilliant, burning light. “I saw. And you are not alone.” </p>
<p>“Neither are you.”</p><hr/>
<p>Chewie and Rey quietly accept Ben into the rhythms of the household, never making him feel pressured to leave or unwelcome. It feels oddly comfortable, like home– he can see why Rey loves it so much here. </p>
<p>Of course, he knows he will need to go home sooner or later– but right now, just right now, he can pretend. </p>
<p>Rey slips into his room in the evenings to meditate with him, or to talk. </p>
<p>“It’s good to have a friend,” she tells him one night, perched on his bed and sharing a tea. “Everyone here is so kind, but I always feel like an outsider.”</p>
<p>“I’ve felt that way my whole life,” he confesses. “But you– not with you.” </p>
<p>She hands him the mug of tea, and he feels electricity just putting his lips where hers were. “I feel like I’ve known you my whole life.” </p>
<p>“Maybe you have.” She leans in to give him a hug, nuzzling his neck as she whispers, “Good night.” </p>
<p>Rey is somehow both his reason for staying and every reason he should leave.</p><hr/>
<p>“Han, Leia. How are you doing?”</p>
<p>The idea that Rey knows his parents is strange. And he has just heard her picking up a call from them. And lord, he knows he shouldn’t listen but he can’t help himself. </p>
<p>“We’re still looking for Ben. He just disappeared without a trace and we’re– we have no idea where he could be.”</p>
<p>“I–” Rey turns around and sees him, standing in the kitchen door. “I’m sure he’s coming home.” She quickly ends the conversation and hangs up. “Ben…”</p>
<p>“I’m not ready,” he whispers. “I know I should, but <i>god</i>, I just can’t…”</p>
<p>“It’s okay.” Rey wraps her arms around him, “I know. You don’t have to go anywhere.”</p>
<p>He stays like that longer than he can justify, his head buried against her neck though she is so much shorter than him. He just wants to feel at home for once and home, though he has scarcely known her a month, is Rey. </p>
<p>It’s Rey when they eat, and wander around the village, and everything else they do together. It’s when he has a nightmare and finds himself panting outside her room, and she doesn’t even question it but leads him back to bed. </p>
<p>It’s Rey that night when she tosses a pillow at him that night, laughing, and he momentarily forgets his fear and anxiety, and tosses the pillow aside. </p>
<p>“You’re ridiculous,” Rey groans. </p>
<p>“You like it when I’m ridiculous.” It’s more that she likes making him smile, she told him. <i>“You look like you haven’t smiled much,” she said. “I want to fix that.”</i></p>
<p>It would have been impossible for him not to be in love with her, really. </p>
<p>“You’re still ridiculous,” she insists, snapping him back to the real world. She curls up into a ball and smiles up at him. </p>
<p>“I don’t want to go,” he says suddenly. </p>
<p>“You don’t have to until you’re r–”</p>
<p>“I don’t want to leave you. I just want to stay here,” he continues. “I’d miss you if I left.”</p>
<p>“I’m not going anywhere just yet, Ben.” She puts a placating hand on his arm. “And we can always see each other again.”</p>
<p>He pulls her into his chest in a sudden need for human contact, burying his nose in her soft hair. “I need you,” he whispers. “Like I’ve never wanted or needed anything before. </p>
<p>“Then stay,” she whispers back. “Stay, and wherever you go, whenever you go, I’ll go with you.”</p><hr/>
<p>He wakes up hours later, in the middle of the night, with Rey curled up in his arms, still the way they were when they fell asleep. </p>
<p>And his first thought is, <i>Chewie is going to kill me</i>, because spending time with Rey and exploring the planet with her staying up late talking with her are all one thing, but sleeping in <i>the same goddamn bed as her</i> is a whole other matter. </p>
<p>“Rey?” he shakes her gently. “Rey, wake up, you have to go back to your own room.”</p>
<p>Rey stirs, but only nuzzles into his shirt, still contentedly half-asleep. </p>
<p>“Rey, c’mons.” He jostles her a little harder, and she finally wakes up. </p>
<p>“Oh.” She realizes the situation they are in and dusts hair out of her eyes. “Yeah, um, goodnight– good morning–” she kicks off the blankets and hurries out, but just as she;s leaving, she pops her head in one final time. “I meant it.”</p><hr/>
<p>But he has to go soon, Chewie tells him. His parents miss him. He can’t hide forever, and Chewie will help him but he owes it to his parents. To go home. </p>
<p>And quite honestly, the very <i>idea</i> that his parents miss him is enough to make him want to go home. He has to know, know that everything can still be okay. </p>
<p>“I’ll go with you, if you’ll have me,” Rey insists when she hears he is leaving. “I really meant it.” She wants to be needed as much as Ben said he needed her. She craves that kind of bond. </p>
<p>“I have to do this alone,” Ben says, pained by the very thought of leaving her. “But I will come back. I need to, I can’t be away from you forever.”</p>
<p>Rey brushes a hand against his cheek, before pressing a delicate kiss to his lips. He’s never been kissed before, but suddenly he’s glad he waited. It feels like, like he’s known Rey in a thousand other lifetimes, but maybe in this one he got something right. </p>
<p>“I’ll come back for you, sweetheart,” he tells her. “I promise.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Please like and drop a comment! I probably won't be getting much more reylo out anytime soon, as I'll be writing my friend a Johnlock fic for her birthday, but I won't be gone long!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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